VI module. Manager's role in mentoring process (1)

Selection of the Mentees

One of the main responsibilities of the coordinator is the selection of the mentees procedure. In order to facilitate this procedure a common application forms or questionnaires could be used. The coordinator should give the application form to fill-in for every person who would like to become a mentee in order to collect the basic information about a person. Also this application form/questionnaire provides the coordinator the expectations of the mentee for the mentoring process and the information about the mentor she/he would like to have. This application form/questionnaire should also contain the questions about the mentees strengths and weaknesses as well as some information a mentee would like to share with the group. The example of the application form/questionnaire could be found here.

To be familiar with the further specific information about a mentee, a coordinator should carry out a needs analysis which provides him with following information: identification of a mentee; expectations of a mentee; awareness of a need of help; personality of a mentee; difficulties in a mentee's life; specific areas where a mentee needs a support.

The example of a needs analysis form could be found here.

Except the needs analysis, a coordinator could organize a personal interview, which could be more efficient in identifying mentee’s needs for two reasons: sometimes people tend to provide incorrect answer to look better in the eyes of evaluator and sometimes it could be difficult to identify the needs and for such people and assistance of coordinator would be helpful; a skilled coordinator could also have an objective opinion about what is necessary to improve.

Selection of the Mentors

After the mentees are selected the coordinator should start searching for the mentors according to the needs of the mentees.

Finding a potential mentors and subsequent selection of the most appropriate one is basically dependent on comparing needs of a group of mentees with the specification and skills of mentor who apply for a job. A coordinator could contact various adult educators and offer them to become mentors in the project.

A coordinator chooses a few out of those who are interested in a job offer and then compare their qualities and abilities. For the selection of the mentors the questionnaires and personal interviews could be used.

A coordinator should invite mentors to the organisation and ask them to fill in the questionnaire for self checking the abilities of a person needed to become a mentor. This questionnaire would help coordinator to get the basic information about the mentor, his skills and competences, possible experience in mentoring, his expectations for the mentoring process and to find out if a person could be a mentor. An example of the questionnaire could be found here.

Personal interview when selecting mentors can be useful as well. Talking in person coordinator can get an authentic impression, which eases him the further selection. Moreover, they can talk about the previous experiences and skills in detail as well as identify the areas when the training is necessary, if any.

Matching of the groups/pairs (under construction)

When a number of mentees and mentors are selected, the final step to having the working groups is to match appropriate mentor with appropriate mentee or mentees. All information which a coordinator gathered in need analysis of all participants is in this phase useful. 

The aim of matching is to find a mentor and mentees who would possibly form a working team. When the group is not determined, the coordinator's task is to create a group of the mentees which has to be selected with a particular care to prevent the group where conflicts arise in or in general is not functioning. Probability of a well matching can be increase when some common features are found. For easier handling it is better to form the small group of mentees, 4-5 per group maximum.  Mentees lose their possible shyness and the trust is created earlier. It is also easier to control more expressive people who could overshadow those who are rather nondescript. Of course, troubles inside a group can arise anytime even though coordinator paid attention to creating the appropriate group of mentees, then professionalism of a mentor plays an essential role.

Matching of mentor and mentees is made upon: the wishes and expectations of the mentees and the mentor; motivation and commitment; interaction skills; educational background and experience of life; values, similarity, difference; age, gender; family, hobbies; line of business.

When the mentor is introduced to the group, it should be told that the mentor matched with their group is the best mentor for this group.

Training of the Mentors

Role of the mentor in the mentoring on employment related issues process is essential and for this reason the selection and training should be treated with great importance. When it is identified mentor's missing specialization, there is a need of training. Manager is then obliged to agree with mentor on further training in a particular area and give him/her the instructions on how to use the training for mentors in the e-mentoring platform and to prepare them for their role as mentor in the mentoring process. During the training of the mentors they get aware of the mentoring and roles of 3M actors in the process, learn about the mentoring process and how it is structured, gets acquaintant with the strong points and challenges of e-Mentoring, learns how to participate in the mentoring process, how to communicate with the mentees and help them to reach their goals.

Training of the Mentees

Before the first meeting of the groups the training for mentees is organised in order to provide them the information about the mentoring, prepare them for their role as a mentee in the mentoring on employment related issues process and to equip them with the skills needed for successful participation in the process: to understand what the mentoring is, how it is structured, what are the strong points and challenges of e-Mentoring, what are the roles of 3M actors in the mentoring process, how to participate in the mentoring process, how to establish common goals, what should be the relations between mentees and mentor in the group, what mentoring tools should be used during the process and how to use OERs on Web 2.0 for self learning. The manager is responsible for the organisation of the training for the mentees by giving them the instructions on how to use the training for mentees in the e-mentoring platform.

The first mentoring session

For the group mentoring during the 1st meeting of mentors and mentees the formed groups meet each other as the groups for the first time and get acquainted with their mentors. The main purpose of this meeting is to get acquainted with each other as individuals and to clear up if ”we are well matched”. The meeting could be organised in manager’s/organiser´s office, cafe, restaurant, etc.

During the meeting mentees learn about the other members who consist their group, give the name for their group and formulates a motto of their group. After the mentors are introduced to the groups, the mentees present themselves to the mentor, tell about the background, family, hobbies, values, education, profession, etc. The mentor listens and makes questions – and presents her-/himself.